L397 Alenquer Tiger Pleco (Panaqolus sp.), Tank-Bred

L397 Alenquer Tiger Pleco (Panaqolus sp.), Tank-Bred

$ 89.99

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* For the safety of our animals, we now ship live fish exclusively via UPS Next Day Air. If your order contains this item, you will only see UPS Next Day Air as a shipping option during checkout *

The L397 Alenquer Tiger Pleco is a remarkably rare and colorful species that is now available as a tank-bred specimen and is a very manaeable species for the home aquarium!

The L397 Alenquer Tiger Pleco (Panaqolus sp.) is an exceptionally colorful and rare loricariid (suckermouth catfish) species that has been successfully tank-bred commercially in just the last few years. Its bright orange and black striping are very distinguishable and among the most striking colorations of the hundreds of known plecos. Like many plecos, the L397 Alenquer Tiger Pleco has generally been a wild-caught species, but we are proud to offer tank-raised juveniles of this beautiful fish at a fraction of the price of other stores!

A generally peaceful and hardy species, the L397 Alenquer Tiger Pleco is an excellent, undemanding candidate for most aquariums. Unlike the widely-seen Common Pleco (Hypostomus plecostomus) and Trinidad Pleco (Hypostomus punctatus), which easily reach a monstrous size of 18 to 20+ inches (45 to 51+ cm), the L397 Alenquer Tiger Pleco grows to a maximum size of only around 5 inches (12.7 cm). This smaller size makes for a much more manageable (and less messy) pleco that can thrive permanently in a well-maintained aquarium as small as 30 to 40 gallons. Male plecos may be somewhat territorial with other males of their species, but disputes can usually be diffused by providing ample territory and hiding places for each fish. All other tankmates will be generally ignored, although it is possible that small shrimp fry might fall prey to the omnivorous L397 Alenquer Tiger Pleco.

The L397 Alenquer Tiger Pleco is primarily nocturnal, but will often become active during daytime hours once established in an aquarium with plenty of driftwood, rockwork, and other hiding places. Like its larger cousins of the Panaque genus, the L397 Alenquer Tiger Pleco is a "wood eating" pleco whose sucker mouth contains teeth that rasp biofilm from driftwood. It is ideal to have multiple driftwood pieces upon which this fish can graze, and at least some wood must be present at all times. The L397 Alenquer Tiger is not a particularly efficient algae eater, but its rasping habits may result in damage to ornamental plants, particularly in smaller tanks. It is possible that it would not do noticeable damage to more durable plants in a fairly large tank with plenty of driftwood. It will also appreciate being fed some fresh vegetables such as shelled peas, spinach, zucchini, and cucumber, or dry and frozen foods that are very rich in vegetable matter.

The addition of GlasGarten Bacter AE will aid greatly in biofilm growth for this fish's diet.

What We Like About This Fish:

An extremely beautiful, very peaceful, and hardy addition to almost any aquarium.
At a maximum size of 5 inches, this is a very practical and manageable fish.
Superb tank-bred juvenile specimens
The L397 Alenquer Tiger Pleco is an aquarium fish with a unique appearance as well as plenty of personality.

RECOMMENDED TANK PARAMETERS:

Temperature: 79° - 84° F (26° - 29° C)
pH: 6.5 - 7.5 (flexible as long as sudden changes are avoided)
KH: 6 - 10 dKH
Minimum tank size: 30 gallons

CARE GUIDELINES:

Diet: Omnivorous, see above.
Social behavior: Generally solitary, but will socialize somewhat, especially during breeding.
Origin: Tank-bred, but indigenous to Lower Amazon, South America.
Average adult size: Up to 5 inches (12.7 cm)
Average purchase size: .5 - 1.5 inches (1.2 - 3.5 cm)

All Aquatic Arts brand plants and animals come with a 100% live arrival guarantee, plus free email support!

For the safety of our animals, we only ship live fish, crabs, and select other inverts exclusively via UPS 1 Day Air. If your order contains this item, you will only see UPS 1 Day Air as a shipping option during checkout. If other items are in your cart that can ship with 2 day or standard shipping options the only shipping method you can still select is UPS 1 Day Air.

UPS 1 Day is a description of the duration of time a shipment will spend in transit once it has been shipped. This does not guarantee the package will be shipped the same or next day from which the order was placed.

Shipping Schedule for this service

UPS 1 Day: Monday through Thursday

Current Handling Time:

1-9 business days

Here at Aquatic Arts, we consider the welfare of the live animals we are shipping to be of the foremost importance. This process is much more involved than simply creating a shipping label and affixing it to a box. Depending on the order, it takes from 4 to 7 people to complete this process properly. We check the weather conditions here where they fly out of the Indianapolis UPS facility and the destination for each shipment. We start early each morning and go through a multi-step process to have the day's shipments prepared in time for the UPS pickup. The volume of orders in our system also affects the processing time. Therefore our stated handling time is 1-9 business days.

Shipping Rate

Pricing is by size of package needed to fill entire order and distance it must travel. It will be calculated at checkout.

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